BETÜL AKTAŞ 08.12.

2020
11167056 (NÖ)

Rain That Turns the Seed to Green

Western civilization is pervasively patriarchal. From the Hebrew Bible and Greek

philosophic writings to the present, the female tends to be defined by negative reference to the

male as the human norm, hence another, or kind of non-man, by her lack of the identifying

male organ, of male capabilities, and of the male character traits that are presumed, in the

patriarchal view, to have achieved the most important scientific and technical inventions and

the major works of civilization of culture. Women themselves are taught, in the process of

being socialized, to internalize the reigning patriarchal ideology, and so are conditioned to

derogate their own sex and to cooperate in their own subordination. Feminists have struggled

for two centuries for recognition of their cultural roles and achievements, social and political

rights. Henrik Ibsen’s seminal and provocative drama A Doll’s House is one of the most

significant feminist literary work. The oppression of the patriarchy obliged the emergence of

the idea of feminism, as well as the oppressions on Nora obliged her transformation in the

axis of feminism.

We can understand that the patriarchal social order is against human nature, from the

fact that Nora does not obey every directive of her husband, albeit secretly. From Nora's

sneaking of macaroons (9), it seems that people have a rebellious side against oppression,

even if it is a minor ban. On the other hand, at that time, the woman had to marry to survive

and she had to keep her husband's heart pleased. It is obvious that how sustainable a

relationship in which one cannot be as herself/himself. Although Nora does not want, she acts

like a loveable but brainless pet (which her husband imposes her) to get her requests done “If

you’d be good and kind and say yes, little squirrel would dance and do lots of tricks” (46).
 It is very difficult for a woman who cannot be fully individual in the patriarchal

system to survive without her husband. When Nora sees Linde pale and changed, she feels

pity in her. (15). If these two women had been educated from the very beginning of their lives

and had not been excluded from economic life, these experiences would not have been so

corrosive for them, because experiencing this aspect of life at a younger age would enable

them to build their lives accordingly. Therefore, it can be said that this change, which Nora

sees in herself and in Linde, is obliged by the patriarchal system at some point in their lives.

Nora considers her secret actions legitimate before Krogstad threatens her. Krogstad

symbolizes the punitive aspect of the patriarchal system (32), and he is a victim of patriarchal

system because he threatens Nora for regaining the respect he loses ‘’...I want to be

respectable again...’’ (31) The spiritual transformation of Nora begins here; she loses her

interest on her children and her household duties. “She manages to get them out of the room

and shuts the door. She sits on the sofa, takes up some sewing and does a stitch or two, then

stops.” (35) Sewing symbolizes her duties which patriarch wants her to do here and the arrival

of the Christmas tree right after symbolizes rebirth of her and foreshadowing new beginnings

in her life.

Linde opposes development and changes, considering Nora's secret actions not

legitimate, thinking that when she meets Krogstad again, she finds someone to dedicate her

life. When Krogstad attempts to retract the letter, Linde's blocking of him also shows that

Linde is taking for granted patriarchy (68). On the other hand, throughout the second act Nora

makes serious efforts not to reveal her secret, resisted against patriarchy.

In Helmer and Nora's recent speech, when Nora's secret is revealed, Helmer says that

society will think that Nora could not commit this crime alone, and that Helmer is the

instigator “They’ll think I knew what you were doing that I was part of it. Behind it, even-
that whole thing was my idea. “With this discourse, we understand that women is put in the

background even when it comes to crime. With Nora telling Helmer that she will leave him,

Helmer reminds Nora of the role that the patriarchal order attributed to Nora, and tries to

prevent Nora's action again through pressure. “It’s unbelievable. You abandon your most

sacred obligations- you’re a wife, a mother. They come first.”

The calmness and self-confidence we see in Nora's conversations with Helmer

throughout the third act, (after her conversation with Dr. Rank) suggests that Nora completes

her change and development against the authority. With this consciousness, she says that she

will establish her own life at the end of the play, that she has a responsibility to herself beyond

everything and that she will now give importance to her education. Fancy dress another

patriarchal symbol in the play “Changing. No more fancy dress” (79). She does not want to

live with any patriarchal figures anymore. She wears her ordinary clothes and says, “I’ve

changed” (80). She thinks her whole life and realizes that she has never an idea belongs to

her, she shared her father’s and her husband’s views on everything, they shaped her life as

they want, they played with her as a dolly. The doll is the most significant symbol in this play,

it symbolizes Nora and women who do not have equal rights with men “He called me his little

dolly-baby, and played with me as I played with my dollies...”, “I’m your dolly-wife, just as I

used to be Daddy’s dolly-baby...” (82).

Consequently, we can consider the transformation process of the main character in

novel the same as the idea of feminism has undergone. The pressures on the main character

depicts the patriarchal order and the transformation that the main character went throughout

the play reflects the come out of the idea of feminism.

References

A Glossary of Literary Terms /M.H. Abrams

A Doll’s House / Henrik İbsen /translated by Kenneth McLeish/Cambridge University Press